May 28, 2008 – U.S. Coast Guard Master Chief Marvin R. Wells departed Coast Guard Headquarters Deepwater program for his next assignment as the command master chief (CMC) position in Pacific Area.
During his next tour, he will serve as an essential link between the area commander, the master chief petty officer of the Coast Guard, and the thousands of enlisted, officers, active and reserve personnel and their families in Pacific Area. PACAREA's area of responsibility spans 74 million square miles ranging from South America, north to the Arctic Circle and west to the Far East. This is one of the top three CMC positions in the Coast Guard.
In 2001, he ranked No. 1 on the promotion list as a senior enlisted aviation technician master chief, making him the first Virgin Islander to achieve this rank within the aviation field in the U.S. Coast Guard.
Most recently, he served as the Command Master Chief for Coast Guard Deep Water Program, where he was instrumental in addressing congressional queries and budgets, and researched many resource and training issues for the very high profile program.
What is his favorite thing about serving in this new position? He wrote, "I believe my background has prepared me to be in a gold badge command master chief position, and it will be extremely exciting since I will be addressing diversity, manpower mobilization and support plans, and interacting with high-quality personnel. I have had the opportunity to not only work with the people that make policy for the entire fleet, but affect policy myself."
He said, "The Coast Guard has a high operational tempo and I am looking forward to the challenge of managing many expectations. I am excited about the task of keeping morale high and personnel standards even higher as a command master chief."
Master Chief Wells' awards include the Commendation Medal, Letter of Commendation Ribbon with "O" Device, 9-11 Ribbon, two National Defense Service Medals and four Special Operations Service Ribbons.
He holds bachelor of science and master degrees from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and is a 1978 Charlotte Amalie High School graduate. His career assignment spans both the east and west coasts of the Continental United States, Hawaii and Puerto Rico.
